Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Music: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the passage of aerosol particles when singing; and for what reason are singers exempt from the requirement to wear face coverings introduced on 30 November 2021.

Julia Lopez: Some activities can increase the risk of transmitting COVID-19, including singing. This has been demonstrated through studies including the NERVTAG and PERFORM studies.However, in some circumstances, people cannot do their work activity effectively while wearing a face covering. The DCMS ‘Working safely during coronavirus: Events and attractions’ (updated on 22nd December) explains that professional performers (and amateur performers who are part of professional activities) are not required to wear a face covering while they are performing or rehearsing, but should be encouraged to do so if possible.

Department of Health and Social Care

Motor Neurone Disease: Medical Treatments

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has plans to introduce specific funding to target treatment for Motor Neurones Disease, set aside from the existing budget to cover an umbrella of neurodegenerative diseases.

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to establish a motor neurone disease (MND) translational research institute committed to improving treatment for MND.

Edward Argar: There are no plans to introduce specific funding for the treatment of Motor Neurone Disease (MND) or a MND translational research institute. NHS England and NHS Improvement commission the specialised care and treatment that patients with MND may receive from the specialised neurological treatment centres across England. Funding decisions for these are made in line with local priorities.The Department funds research on health and social care through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). It is not usual practice to ring-fence funding for particular topics or conditions. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including MND. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money, and scientific quality.

Alcoholic Drinks and Drugs: Misuse

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were admitted to emergency departments where substance misuse of (a) drugs and (b) alcohol was a contributing factor for their reason for attendance in the last year.

Edward Argar: The information requested is not held in the format requested.The number of people attending accident and emergency departments is not collected, as individual patients may have multiple attendances. However, the following table shows data on the total number of emergency department attendances for which drugs and alcohol were recorded as a primary or a secondary diagnosis in 2020/21. AlcoholDrugs112,43927,050 Source: NHS DigitalNote:In 2020-21, 74.8% of attendances in the Emergency Care Data Set had a valid code recorded in the diagnosis field. Therefore, it is possible that the figures provided may be an under-representation of actual activity.

Coronavirus: Screening

Peter Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) provision of (i) uniforms and (ii) winter uniforms by the employer and (b) other working conditions at covid testing centres under contract to his Department.

Maggie Throup: Uniforms, personal protective equipment and special apparel, such as winter uniforms, are provided by the service management providers operating testing sites, according to local needs. COVID-19 testing centres are regularly audited and inspected by the Department, the UK Health Security Agency and by external organisations to maintain working conditions which are safe for test site operatives.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Rural Areas: Business

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to provide alternative support to rural businesses to help them diversify as Basic Payment Scheme income reduces.

Victoria Prentis: Our manifesto was clear that we would maintain the annual budget for farming for every year of this parliament. Freed from the Common Agricultural Policy, we are repurposing this money to incentivise sustainable farming practices alongside profitable food production. We have also made simplifications to the 2021 Basic Payment Scheme, as set out in the Agricultural Transition Plan. This included removing the greening requirements. These simplifications meant the scheme guidance was reduced by about half. Earlier this month (December 2021) we published information on the Sustainable Farming Incentive in 2022. The Sustainable Farming Incentive is the first of our three new environmental land management schemes. Through this scheme, we will pay farmers to produce public goods such as water quality, biodiversity, animal health and welfare and climate change mitigation, alongside food production. The December update set out details of scheme policy, including on eligibility, applications and payment rates. We will pay a more generous payment rate than previous EU schemes, and there will be fewer rules and more trust. As we said in the December update, we want to see large-scale adoption of the Sustainable Farming Incentive across the range of farm types, locations and tenancy arrangements, with 70% of farms and farmland in the scheme by 2028. Alongside the Sustainable Farming Incentive, we will be launching the Local Nature Recovery scheme and the Landscape Recovery scheme. All three schemes will be accessible to farmers. Local Nature Recovery will begin a phased rollout from 2023 and will pay farmers for using less productive areas of their farms to create habitats and support biodiversity and water quality. It will also support collaboration between groups of farmers. Landscape Recovery will begin piloting in 2022 and will pay landowners who want to take a more radical and large-scale approach to producing environmental outcomes through land use change. We will set out more detail on Local Nature Recovery and Landscape Recovery in the New Year. There will also be schemes to help support businesses to get ready for the agricultural transition period which runs from 2021 to 2027. We have already opened the Farming Investment Fund for applications. It is there to support farmers to invest in new equipment, technology and infrastructure to improve productivity, support animal health and welfare and improve environmental outcomes. We plan to launch an added value theme under the Farming Transformation Fund and this will support farmers to invest in shortening their supply chains through packing, processing and retailing their produce. The Farming Innovation Programme opened for applications in October 2021. This will support ambitious projects to transform productivity and enhance environmental sustainability in England’s agricultural and horticultural sectors, whilst driving the sectors towards net zero. And we know that a vibrant industry needs to attract new talent. Our New Entrant Support scheme aims to encourage new starters into farming. Eligibility for this scheme will be developed in partnership with stakeholders and applications will open in 2022. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), worth over £2.6 billion over the next three years, will help people access opportunity in places in need, including in rural and coastal communities. The Government will publish further details on the fund in due course.